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The Joker’s Wild 1977
TJW78
The Joker’s Wild 1981
Aired
Syndicated: September 1977 - May 23, 1986
Run time
30 Minutes
Host
Jack Barry, Jim Peck, Bill Cullen
Announcer
Jay Stewart, Bob Hilton, Art James, Charlie O'Donnell
Origination
KCOP Television, Los Angeles, California; The Production Group Studios, Los Angeles, California

This is chronicling the syndicated 1977 revival of The Joker's Wild.

Game Format[]

Two contestants faced a giant slot machine and answered questions. On those wheels were five categories. Each contestant in turn pulled a lever in front of them which caused the category wheels to spin. When the wheels stopped, that player was given a choice of up to three categories. Host Barry asked a question under that category and a correct answer won money for that player; but an incorrect answer gave the opponent a chance to steal the money by answering the same question.

Question values were determined by how many of that category appeared. A single category was worth $50, a double category/pair was worth $100, and a triple was worth $200. The first player to reach $500 or more in that player's proper turn won the game.

Also on the wheels were jokers, which were wild (hence the name of the show). The contestants could match up the joker with any category they chose, and they could also use the joker(s) to go off the board, and select a different category. If a Joker and two categories came up, the contestant could pick either one for $100 or any category for $50. A Joker and a pair meant either the category on the board for $200 or any category for $50. Two Jokers and a category meant either the category on the board for $200 or any category for $50 or $100.

If at any time three jokers came up (that's Joker, Joker, JOKER!), that contestant could instantly win the game by answering one question from one category correctly; however, if unsuccessful, the opponent could not steal and the game continued as normal.

Both contestants took an equal number of turns; in the event the first contestant (originally the champion, later the challenger) reached $500 first, the second contestant took one final spin in an attempt to catch-up. In the event of a tie at $500, extra rounds were played and whoever was ahead in score at the end of a complete round was the winner.

The winner of the game kept his/her money and earned a chance to play the bonus game.

Special categories[]

  • Multiple Choice – Introduced in 1978, the contestant was given three possible answers to a general knowledge question, and had to choose the correct answer. For the first half of Season 1, all questions were multiple-choice, except for some visual categories.
  • Pot Luck – A question in which could be almost anything; usually from one of the other categories.
  • Grab Bag – A straight-forward general knowledge question.
  • Who, What, or Where? – self explanatory
  • A to Z – In this category, the host announced a letter that the correct answer began with, then he read the question, and all the contestant had to do was to give the correct answer beginning with that letter.
  • Alphabet Soup - Similar to A to Z; however, all answers began with the same letter of the alphabet.
  • Crossword Definitions – The host would announce the number of letters in a word and read a definition pertaining to that word. The contestant had to guess the word associated with that definition.
  • What's Missin_? – A sentence pertaining to a phrase, a title, or a list, was read and the contestant's job was to fill in the missing word or complete the list.
  • Today's Name Is… – Questions in this category pertained to a famous person, actor/actress, etc.
  • Fact or Foto – Replaced Choose the Clues during the final season. The host gave the subject to the answer, then the contestant had to choose to hear a fact about the answer to a question or to see a photo of the answer. An incorrect response gave their opponent both the fact and photo before answering.
  • How Low Will You Go? – Replaced Mystery during the final season. This was played similar to Bid A Note on Name That Tune. A question with a list of eight clues was asked and the players bid-off as to how few clues they would need to answer it. A wrong answer meant the opponent was supplied with all the clues before giving an answer.
  • Just One More – Identical to Auction on Tic Tac Dough. Given a question with multiple answers, the contestants bid back and forth as to how many they could name. The high bidder won control; if he/she gave an incorrect answer, the opponent could steal the money with one correct response.
  • Take a Chance – After hearing the question, the contestant could either answer it him/herself or pass it to the opponent. An incorrect answer awarded the money to the contestant who did not receive the question.

Special Scoring Questions[]

These categories affected the scoring of the game.

  • Mystery(?) – Identical to the Secret Category on Tic Tac Dough, this category lasted until after the 8th season. If and when a contestant spun and picked the category, the question was played for double value. These were seven vertical cards marked with question marks (?) on the front of the host's podium numbered from 1 to 7, representing seven mystery categories. The contestant chose one of those cards, then the host would announce the category (not one of the other four) and read the question, with a correct answer earning the contestant $100, $200, or $400 depending on the spin. On occasion, the Mystery Category questions could be multiple-choice.
  • Fast Forward ____________ – This was the only special category that lasted throughout the entire series, and all the questions in that game came from one subject. This was where the contestant could answer as many questions as he/she wished, with the option to stop after each correct answer. Stopping was important, because if at any time the contestant in control gave a wrong answer, he/she lost all the accumulated money won back to the starting score and gave the opponent a chance to answer the missed question for the face value ($50, $100, or $200). This was usually an alternative to three jokers, when someone really far behind needed to catch up.
  • Stumpers – Introduced in the Fall of 1983, "stumpers" were all questions missed by both contestants from previous shows. The contestant who spun and chose the category could elect to answer the question for single value after the host gave the two wrong answers given by those two contestants or go for double the dollar value by answering the question without any help. Originally, the category was a straightforward question from any category, with $100 added to the value of the question, making the question worth $150, $200, or $300.
  • Bid __________ – Debuted in the first episode of the "Cullen Era" in 1984, A contestant had to answer a certain amount of questions (similar to the format used in the Bullseye) to win the money multiplied by the number of questions required. To start, the contestant chose how many questions he/she wanted to answer (with a minimum bid of two), with the value of the spin multiplied by the amount of the bid. Should the first contestant miss the question, his/her opponent could complete the bid themselves by answering the remaining questions correctly. An incorrect answer by the opponent ended the questioning and that contestant would spin on their proper turn for another category. Like "Fast Forward", the category could be used to catch up if trailing; unlike "Fast Forward", however, the accumulated money was not lost if the question was missed, allowing the opponent to steal the accumulated money by providing the last correct answer.
  • Choose the Clues – The host would reveal the subject for the question and the opponent would decide if the player in control would be given one or two clues. One clue was worth double the amount while two clues was worth the regular amount. If the spinning player was given only one clue and missed, the opponent was given both clues for the regular amount and the chance to answer.

Natural Triple[]

Contestants won a bonus for spinning a natural triple in the main game in addition to answering a question worth $200. From 1977 to 1983, contestants who spun a natural triple won a special prize which was kept win or lose. Beginning in Fall 1983, they won the "Natural Triple Jackpot" which was an accumulating jackpot prize package. Prizes were kept regardless of the game's outcome.

Bonus Game (Face the Devil)[]

In the bonus round, the categories and jokers were replaced by dollar values ranging from $25 to $200, and devils which resembled host Jack Barry. The winning contestant could take as many spins as he/she wanted. The goal on each spin was to spin only money amounts, and each time he/she did that, the contestant would win the combined total of the money amounts shown. But if at any time a devil appeared, the contestant would lose all the accumulated money up to that point. That's why the host gave the contestant the option to stop the game and keep whatever he/she won after each successful spin. But if the contestant could reach $1,000 or more, they not only got to keep the cash, but also won a special prize package worth between $3,000 and $5,000. If the contestant could spin a natural triple (three of the same money amounts), he/she automatically won. If the contestant was close enough to $1,000 wherein a natural triple would take them over it, the amount would be added to the total.


Champions received a new car for every fifth victory and played until they were defeated. From 1981 to 1984, however, Joker aired on WCBS in New York. As WCBS is an O&O station, Joker had to adhere to CBS's $35,000 winnings limit which increased to $50,000 in 1983. Any winnings over the limit would be donated to a charity chosen by the champion.

The biggest non-tournament total awarded was $66,200.

Tournament of Champions[]

For the first three years of the syndicated version, "Tournaments of Champions" were held annually, featuring eight of the biggest winners from the previous year (for the 1977 and 1980 tournaments, the tournament field was sixteen; also, for the 1977 tournament, the bulk of the champions were from the CBS run). Different rules applied to Tournament of Champions play: the contestants played for points, and in the championship game, two wins out of three were needed for the top prize (three out of five for both the third and fourth tournaments). In the event a natural triple was spun, $500 went to the contestant's favorite charity. Contestants drew numbers to determine who would spin the wheels first. If the contestant who spun first (in the challenger's podium) spun three jokers and answered a question correctly, that player's score would go to 500 points. Then the one who spun second (in the champion's podium) would get one final turn to tie the game in that case, or win the game if trailing by less than 200 points; so therefore in any case, both players would get an equal number of turns. The player who was ahead after each completed round after the target score of 500 points was reached or exceeded was declared the winner. Also, no bonus game was played.

Frank Dillon won the tournaments in 1977 and 1978, respectively; Eileen Jason captured the tournament in 1979 defeating Dillon in the finals.

Year Grand Prize
1977 $50,000: $25,000, trip around the world, Chevy Nova
1978 $100,000: $50,000, Buick Skyhawk, several rooms of furniture, trips to the South Pacific, Morocco, Switzerland, and Paris
1979 $250,000: $20,000/year for a decade, $50,000 prize package

$1,000,000 Tournament[]

For what would turn out to be the final Tournament of Champions in 1980 (due to the aforementioned $35,000 limit), The Joker's Wild became the first television program to advertise that it was giving away $1,000,000. It was the total purse for this Tournament of Champions, whose players would split their earnings with 16 nominated charities. During this tournament, the theme to another Barry & Enright game show, Break the Bank, was used instead of the regular opening and closing themes; however, the regular Joker's Wild theme was used as a bumper. Also, by the time this tournament came into effect, contestants started to wear nametags, and they would continue to wear them for the rest of the series.

Tourney Rounds Award
Premliminaries $7,500 for the runner-up & charity ($15,000 total)
Quarterfinals $12,500 for the runner-up & charity ($25,000 total)
Semifinals $20,000 for the runner-up & charity ($40,000 total)
Finals Winner: $25,000/year for a decade, $250,000 for the charity ($500,000 total)
Runner-up: $10,000/year for a decade, $100,000 for the charity ($200,000 total)

Rob Griffin won the tournament, defeating Cassandra Dooley. Rob donated half his winnings to the March of Dimes, while Cassandra donated half her winnings to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Audience Game[]

From 1981 to 1985, at the end of every show (originally the Friday show), an audience game was played. This was where audience members got a chance to win money for themselves.

Three audience members came down, and each one took a spin on the money wheels, on which its amounts ranged from $10 to $50 plus $100 spaces, for a maximum of $300 in one spin. Originally they could take up to two spins; if they liked what they saw on the first spin, they stayed with it; if not, they could reject the amount and spin again. In either case, whatever they won was theirs, and the audience player with the highest amount of money went on to spin against the devil for more cash and a bonus prize. In case of a tie, a spin-off was played to determine the winner. Any money won from the spin-off spins was added to their totals.

Cullen's Audience Game[]

In the eighth season when Bill Cullen took over, the rules were modified. Since Bill wasn't able to go to the studio audience due to his limpage from polio crippling him, two audience members came up on stage to play the game. The third player was a home viewer who played the game by phone; he/she had to activate the wheels using the star key (*). Other than that, most of the rules stayed the same.

Trivia[]

The show was distributed by Colbert Television Sales.

International Versions[]

Merchandise[]

Photos[]

Tickets[]

Ads[]

Episode Status[]

Video[]

See Also[]

The Honeymoon Game
The Joker’s Wild
The Joker's Wild (1973 "Celebrity Edition" pilot)
Joker Joker Joker
The Joker’s Wild (1990)
The Joker's Wild (2006 pilot)
The Joker's Wild (2009 proposed pilot)
Snoop Dogg Presents The Joker’s Wild
Gettin' Wild with Snoop Dogg

Links[]

THE JOKER'S WILD HOMEPAGE
Adam Nedeff's page on the Bill Cullen years of The Joker's Wild
Adam Nedeff's older page on the Bill Cullen years of The Joker's Wild
David's Syndicated Joker's Wild Page
Rules for The Joker's Wild at the Game Show Temple
Josh Rebich's Joker's Wild Rules Page
Flash game of Face the Devil
Older Flash game of Face the Devil

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